wiped off the map

do you think it ever occurs to putin that hardline islamic nations like iran probably support the islamic militants in chechnya, the ones who are openly trying to destabilize the region so as to create a caliphate in the caucauses? i would think that if it did, he'd be a little less sanguine about supporting iran's nuclear ambitions. yes, his country has a lot to gain financially from building iran nuclear power plants and such, but when iran has the bomb who's to say it won't aid the chechens with it?

nor would such a development bode well for israel.

change the face

some people, i'm sure, are breathing a sigh of relief not that miers has withdrawn her nomination to the supreme court. don't. my money's on alberto gonzalez being nominated, and while he's imminently more qualified, he's also much less good for america. well, in my opinion. he's clearly more conservative, yet he's also latino, which should help garner support. i don't like him.

possibly bush will nominate another woman, but his most likely choices aren't much better than alberto. i wouldn't find a democrat filibuster surprising, and with frist in his sec tangle i have doubts about his ability to go nuclear. so, we'll see. i'm sure i won't like bush's choice to replace sandra day o'connor (i liked roberts, more for his intellect and capacity than his potential conservative politics), but we'll see. maybe he'll do something inspired.

that's a joke.

news for the politically impaired

troop deployment in iraq erodes national guard readiness.

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“It is shameful that Republicans in Congress are pushing legislation that guarantees their gun-dealing cronies receive special treatment and are above the law.”

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rove and libby sitting in a tree b-r-e-a-k-i-n-g the law.

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some good news in the katrina aftermath (unless you suffer from erectile dysfunction.

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for the president, domestic problems are "background noise"

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miers not being upfront with us.

letter sent to the dnc

i am a lifelong independent voter. at least, when i was eligible to vote. back in 2nd grade we had a mock election at school, using real (mechanical) voting booths. i voted for mondale/ferraro, but reagan/bush won the school. my classmates all shared who they voted for (we didn't realize you didn't have to tell people) and they all got on my case for voting for some guy who wanted to cut back our supply of nuclear weapons. that's about all any of us knew about either candidate, probably.
unfortunately, i feel that's about all anyone in america knows about the candidates today. i never felt i had a firm grasp of what john kerry stood for, only what he stood against. the republicans had a field day with his military record, and subsequent protest, while somehow persuading the american people bush's record was unimpeachable. it should have been enough to say 'kerry fought, bush didn't', but no one seemed to think of that.
today, i don't know what the democrats stand for, or who they are. under bill clinton the ideology was fuzzy too, but i was ok with that. clinton had the charisma to play the center and win votes. now, with the democrats adrift, playing the blame game, i don't know who they are or what they plan to do. saying no, the republican program doesn't work is one thing (and right), but you have no plans of your own. what will the democrats do if they ever get power back? what do they mean? what is their purpose? i don't know.
i won't vote republican because of their social conservatism and their incessant corruption, but i do prefer the centrist economic policy clinton favored. not that you should bow to corporate pressure, but to stay competitive and promote economic recovery we have to open up the economy. this will mean some losses in some sectors, but it should also bring gains in others. it also means having a plan for the future, instead of merely opposing bush's plan. i don't see that in the party.
in fact, i don't see any new ideas or intellectual support in the democratic party. the republicans have spent the past twenty years building the intellectual and theoretical underpinnings for their political take over. democrats have no such infrastructure. until you do, you will not be able to stand up to the republicans. you won't be able to shut them down in debates, you won't be able to present alternative ideas. opposition is not enough. you have to give the american people a reason to vote for you, something more than 'well, at least they're not republicans'. what are you going to do?
when you tell me, when you have something to present the country, when you have ideas and plans and programs to get america back on the proper track, then i'll be happy to support you financially. until then, my money's just being wasted.

republicans raping the environment

What I'm about to tell you is so outrageous, it's hard to believe it's true. But unfortunately, it is: Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA) has outlined a plan for the House draft budget reconciliation bill to sell off 15 national parks for energy and commercial development.

That's right - our natural heritage could soon be up for sale. Please sign this petition today to stop Congress' national park give-away.

One of the parks on the chopping block is Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Lake Clark protects the largest known Athapaskan archeological site in Alaska; an incredibly rugged wilderness containing two active volcanoes; and a wide variety of wildlife, including caribou, Dall sheep, brown bears, bald eagles, and peregrine falcons. The protected Lake Clark watershed is a significant part of the greater Bristol Bay watershed, which contains the world's largest Sockeye salmon fishery. This national treasure is irreplaceable.

Incredibly, there's more to the bill than just selling off 23% of the National Park System's acreage. Rep. Pombo's bill would require the Park Service to sell commercial advertising on the exterior and interior of all buses, shuttles, vans, trams, and passenger ferries operated within the National Park System. This bill would also require the Park Service to solicit and sell commercial sponsorship of park visitor centers, education centers, information centers, museums, trails, auditoriums, amphitheaters, and theatres throughout the National Park System.

And a painfully ironic provision of this bill would require the immediate sale of Theodore Roosevelt Island in the District of Columbia, which was established as a memorial for our nation's greatest conservation president.

Congress and the administration have a responsibility to protect our national heritage. Instead, Representative Pombo seems prepared to put our American heritage on the auction block, insulting the American people and tarnishing the birthright of current and future generations.

a human rights alert from care2

Wal-Mart finds itself back in court - this time it's been accused of denying thousands of workers' lunch breaks that are required by law. The case covers 116,000 former and current Wal-Mart employees in California, who are owed more than $66 million in back-pay plus interest for unpaid work during lunch.

"Time theft" labor abuses are a chronic problem for Wal-Mart. In fact, the company has paid millions to settle numerous cases of this sort already, in which its employees were denied breaks required by law, forced to work off the clock, or denied overtime pay for hours worked.

As the world’s largest retailer and America’s largest private employer, Wal-Mart clearly has some explaining to do. But rather than address the serious issues raised in the worker discrimination lawsuit, Wal-Mart has aggressively fought the charges and attempted to keep this suit out of court for the past four years.

When will Wal-Mart learn that treating workers fairly doesn’t come at the expense of corporate profits? After all, workers who are treated with respect are more loyal to their employers and work harder too.

"we're only going to die from our own ignorance"

1970—Graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School
1970-1972—Clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Joe Estes
1972-2001—Joined Texas law firm, Locke, Purnell
1985—Elected president of the Dallas Bar Association
1986-1989—Member of the State Bar board of directors
1989-1991—Elected and served one term on the Dallas City Council
1992—Elected president of the Texas State Bar
1993-1994—Worked as counsel for Bush's gubernatorial campaign
1995-2000—Appointed chairwoman of Texas Lottery Commission by Gov. George Bush
1996—Became president of Locke, Purnell, and the first woman to lead a major Texas law firm
1998—Presided over the merger of Locke, Purnell with another big Texas firm, Liddell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill & LaBoon, and became co-managing partner of the resulting megafirm, Locke Liddell & Sapp
2000—Represented Bush and Cheney in a lawsuit stemming from their dual residency in Texas while running in the Presidential primary
2001—Selected as staff secretary for President Bush
2003—Promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
2004—Selected as White House Counsel

There are many important questions that need to be addressed, including:

What policies did she advocate for on the Dallas City Council?
What was her record at the head of the scandal-ridden Texas Lottery Commission?
What cases did she take on while working as a corporate lawyer in private practice, and what positions did she fight for?
What has she written or said in and outside of her law practice about her views on constitutional issues like privacy, the "commerce clause" or equal protection
As White House councel Alberto Gonzales played a pivotal role in softening America's stance on torture. What positions has Harriet Miers advocated for in the same role?
Has she ever publicly distanced herself from George W. Bush?
It's important that we move quickly in answering these questions. The Bush spin machine has been prepared for this nomination for some time and is already cranking at full speed. The strategy is to move Miers through as an enigma. We need to make sure the facts about her views are known.

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i don't like her. i don't like this promoting from within. i don't like this cronyism. "brownie" was part of that process, and look what a good job he did with fema. "rummy" is part of it too, and i'm sure many will agree his job in iraq has been far from stellar. i'm afraid of this woman, and this president's incompetence. he's run everything he's ever run into the ground. finally we get to see him do it to america. um, that's not a good thing.